With top seed, and world number three, Andy Roddick opening his Paris campaign against fellow American Taylor Dent later in the day, Ginepri seized his chance to continue his run of form late in the year.
The 23-year-old, so long in the shadow of Andre Agassi and Roddick after struggling to fulfil early promise, has had a good 2005.
He won a third career title and has seen his world ranking rise from a mediocre 58 a year ago to a high of 18 now.
Furthermore, he has developed a taste for the big matches reaching the semi-finals of the US Open, where his charge was halted by Agassi, and then the Madrid Masters where it took world number two Rafael Nadal to stop him.
On Wednesday, Ginepri took the tough route to the third round squandering a match point in the second set tie-break before carving out a crucial break in the decider to lead 5-3.
COLLATED DAY 2 RESULTS (x denotes seeded player):
FIRST ROUND: Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 7-5; Jean-Rene Lisnard (FRA) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7/5); Arnaud Clement (FRA) bt Nicolas Kiefer (GER) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (8/6); Taylor Dent (USA) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4); Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Nicolas Massu (CHI) 6-2, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro (FRA) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
SECOND ROUND: Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt Guillermo Coria (ARG x2) 6-4, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x3) bt Greg Rusedski (GBR) 6-2, 6-2; Novak Djokovic (SEM) bt Mariana Puerta (ARG x4) 6-3, 7-6 (11/9); Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) bt Mario Ancic (CRO x15) 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3); Radek Stepanek (CZE x8) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-5, 6-2; Ivan Ljubicic (CRO x6) bt James Blake (USA) 6-3, 6-4.
Second Round Day 3
Dominik Hrbaty (SVK x16) bt Jean-Rene Lisnard (FRA) 6-3, 6-3; Robby Ginepri (USA x12) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-3, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3.